Stitch separating and pricking-up maghine



No. 620,730. Patented Mar, 7, I899. J. E. BERTRAND.

STITCH SEPARATING AND PRIGKING-UP MACHINE.

(Application filed. Nov. 14, 1898.)

(No Model;)

' v lflvo nlor:

JosfiphEliB erlrand No. 620,730. Patented Mar. 7, I899.

J. E. BERTRAND.

STlTC-H SEPABATING AND PRICKING-UP MACHINE.

(Application filed Nov. 14, 1898.)

(N0 Modei.)

livenior: JoscphEliBerZrand UNTTE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH E. BERTRAND, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

STITCH SEPARATING AND PRlCKlNG-UP MAGHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 620,7 30, dated March7, 1899.

Application filed November 14, 1898- Serial No. 696,424. (No model.)

To ttZZ whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOSEPH ELI BERTRAND, of Boston, in the county ofSuffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Stitch Separating and Pricking-Up Machines, of which the'follo'wing,taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is aspecification.

My invention relates to stitch separating and pricking-up machines; andit consists in certain novel features of construction, arrangement, andcombination of parts, which will be readily understood by reference tothe description of the accompanying drawings and to the claims heretoappended and in which my invention is clearly pointed out.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a front elevation of a machine, illustratingmy invention. Fig. 2 is aside elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a frontelevation of the stitch-separating wheel, drawn to an enlarged scale.Fig. 4 is a rear elevation of the same. Fig. 5 is a section on line :0a: on Fig. 3, and Fig. 6 is a section of'the feed-wheel on line y onFig. 1.

In the drawings, 1 is a column provided with a suitable base-flange 2,the hub 3, and the upwardly-projecting arms 4 4, the upper ends of whichare slotted, as shown in Fig. 2. In a bearing in the hub 3 is mountedthe shaft 5, upon the front end of which is firmly secured, so as to berevoluble therewith, the feed-wheel 6, and uponits other end thehandwheel '7, provided with the crank-handle 8, as shown. The feed-wheel6 has a frusto-conical periphery composed of a rubber band 9, fitted toa groove in the metal body of said wheel, as shown in Figs. 2 and 6.

A vertically-movable block 10, provided with guide-flanges 11, is fittedbetween the arms 44 and has mounted in a bearing formed therein theshaft 12, upon the front end of which is firmly secured the stitchseparating and pricking-up wheel 13 and upon its rear end the collar 14and check-nut 15, as shown in Fig. 2. The block or box 10 has settherein the rod 16, which projects therefrom at each side and throughthe slots formed in the upper ends of the arms 4, upon the ends of whichrod are fitted the upper ends of the links 17, the lower ends of whichare pivoted to the movable ends of the levers 18 and 19,

firmly secured upon a rocker-shaft 20, mount ed in a bearing in thecolumn 1, as shown.

The lever 18 extends tothe rear beyond the rocker-shaft 20 to serve as ameans of raising the block 10 and the wheel 13 to enable the work to beplaced in the desired position for being acted upon by the wheel 13 atthe proper time, said lever 18 being operated by hand, or its rear endmay be connected by a suitable link to a treadle upon the floor (notshown) and be operated by the foot.

An arched stand 21 is bolted to the upper ends of the arms 4 4 of thecolumn 1 in a threaded bearing, in which is fitted the set screw 22,provided with a hand-wheel 23, as a means of regulatingthe tension ofthe spring 24, interposed between the lower end of said screw and theblock 10, as shown.

The wheel 13 is composed of a cylindrical hub a and a series of radialblades b 7), made from thin spring-steel set in said hub, the ends ofsaid blades being oblique to the axis of revolution of said wheel andcurved or rounded in the direction of their thickness, as shown.

The hub to has formed in its periphery a series of shallow longitudinalgrooves corresponding in number to the number of blades 19 b to beinserted in said hub, said grooves having a width corresponding to thethickness of said blades, and each end of said hub has formed one-halfas many radial grooves as there are grooves in its periphery, the radialgrooves on both ends connecting at their outer ends with every alternatelongitudinal groove, but the radial grooves on one end connecting withthe longitudinal grooves with which the radial grooves on the other enddo not connect, as shown. The blades are made in pairs, as shown in Fig.5, each having a shank 19 extending from the bottom of the longitudinalgroove to the hole in said hub which receives the shaft 12, said shankon one blade of each pair being opposite the acuteangled corner of saidblade and in the other blade opposite the obtuse-angled corner of itsblade, as shown in Fig. 5.

The wheel 13 shown is constructed to operate upon a shoe in which theaverage stitch is about three thirty-seconds of an inch long and isintended to separate the stitches and indent the welt on work havingthat grade of stitching only and is intended to adapt itself to theslight variations in the lengths of the stitches of that grade by thespringing of the blades Z) I). If, however, coarser or finer stitchingis to be pricked up, a wheel having a coarser or finer pitch of teethwill be used.

The operation of my inventionis as follows: The operator first raisesthe wheel 13 by pressing down upon the rear end of the lever 18, placesthe tread-surface of the sole of the boot or shoe upon the upper surfaceof the feedwheel, allows the wheel 13 to descend, care being taken toinsure that one of the blades 1) shall come in contact with the weltbetween two stitches. The operator then revolves the hand-wheel 7 andthe feed-wheel 6 by means of the crank-handle S, and as the wheel 13 ispressed downward with considerable force by the tension of the spring24, which may be increased or diminished at pleasure,the wheel 13revolves in unison with the feed-wheel, and if the stitches are all of auniform and standard length the blades 1) b will successively enter thespaces between the stitches and properly indent the welt; but if thestitches are irregular or'vary in length and the point of a blade as thewheel 13 revolves comes in contact with the inclined or rounded end of astitch short of or beyond the actual divide between two stitches thethin steel blade will spring and slide down said rounded end of thestitch and separate said two stitches at the actual division betweenthem and indent the welt at the proper point, said spring of the bladebeing caused by the hard rounded surface of the waxed stitch with whichit comes in contact.

WVhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States, is

1. In a stitch separating and pricking-up machine, the combination of arevoluble feedwheel, and a stitch-separating Wheel composed of a centralhub and a series of thin spring-steel blades set firmly in said hub atuniform distances apart and radiating therefrom each blade beingconstructed and adapted to spring independently between its outer endand the hub in which it is set to accommodate itself to the varyinglength of the stitches as set forth.

2. In a stitch separating and pricking-up machine, the combination of arevoluble feedwheel having a frusto-conical peripheral frictionalsurface to receive the tread-surface of the boot or shoe sole; and astitch separating and pricking-up wheel arranged to cooperate with saidfeed-wheel and having aseries of thin spring-steel radiating blades each3. The stitch separating wheel 13 composed of the cylindrical hub toprovided with longitudinal and radial grooves as set forth, a series ofpairs of thin spring-steel radiating blades 17 I) each provided with ashank b and shaped as set forth and firmly secured in the grooves ofsaid hub substantially as described.

4. In a stitch separating and pricking-up machine, the combination of afeed shaft mounted in fixed bearings; a feed-wheel secured on saidshaft; means for revolving said shaft and feed-wheel; a second shaftmounted in a movable bearing with its axis parallel to the axis of saidfeed-shaft; means for moving said shaft bodily toward and from saidfeed-shaft; means for maintaining its parallelisrn with said feed-shaft,during said move= ments; and a stitch-separating wheel, composed of asingle hub and a series of thin steel blades set in fixed positions insaid hub and projecting radially therefrom, with their outer ends atuniform distances apart, which distances correspond to the standardlength of the stitch to be operated upon, and each of said blades beingconstructed and adapted to spring, independently, between its operat ingend and said hub.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses, on this 11th day of November, A.D. 1898.

JOSEPH E. BERTRAND.

Witnesses:

N. O. LOMBARD, WALTER E. LOMBARD.

